Girl Catches On Fire-Hand Sanitizer To Blame?

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By
Paul Johnson

Story Created:
Feb 20, 2013 at 3:02 PM MDT

Story Updated:
Feb 20, 2013 at 3:02 PM MDT

Portland, Oregon (CNN) - Oregon fire investigators are looking into how an 11-year-old patient at a children's hospital caught fire. There is speculation that hand santizer may be to blame. The incident happened earlier this month (February) at Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, Oregon. Hospital officials say the girl was painting in her room when she caught fire. The child's father told The Oregonian newspaper that she had recently used hand sanitizer to clean a table surface. He believes the alcohol based substance and static electricity are to blame. Doctors say the cause of the fire is still under investigation. "No, this is a really unusual event -- I don't think anything like this has happened either at Dornbecher or at OHSU -- in any hospital this would be an incredibly rare event -- I don't want to speculate on what the cause could be the fire marshal has done the investigation we are waiting the fire marshal's investigation."The child is a cancer survivor and was undergoing treatment for an unrelated head injury when the fire happened. She is now being treated for burns at another hospital.